Project R, pt 2

Development on the ARC-2w continues.  The foot piece has been completed, molded and the two production parts have been cast.  I ended up having to make a couple changes that I didn't quite want to, but I think they'll work out.  I wanted the upper shroud to be more of a plate rather than molded into the foot itself, but I think this works better for reproductions.  I'll add an additional shroud to the shin part to add interest and detail.

The base frame for the shin is shaped up, and is show in the below.  Next to do on it is build up the armor plates and detail, and then put in the knee joint.   Both the shin and thighs are planned to be symmetrical, just like the foot, so I can build one master then cast it twice.  The hip joint is still being processed in my engineering brain, but I'm likely to mirror the one that I planned for the Atlas.  The TRO design for the Archer has a round hip/lower torso master part, and I may imitate that with my build, depending on what I can find to use to master it out.

The other part that is giving me heartburn is the shoulder launchers.  In my specs, I want to keep the basic angular design, and again, they can be symmetrical, so a good master can be molded and cast to make both parts.  On the launcher there are two surface panels, one is long, arcing up the main torso and one smaller toward the front of the part.  Those will be the LRM20 and SRM4 respectively.  Ok, so that's not bad, but it's the designing of it that is making me sweat.  I expect to build up the torso much like Tim did the MadDog IV, with 3 pieces, one center and two symmetrical right and left.  The thing is, as I mentioned in my last update.. how.  The Classic Archer has a cover hatch that lifts up.  yeah, I can do that, and if I do, I'll do a cover hatch for the SRM-4 that drops forward and down.  Or, I can do covers like the MadDog IV, that have individual covers for each missile tube.

The bay cover will be more of a pain to model and build, but I really think it'd look cooler and be more true to the classic Archer lines.  I like the look of the arm design of the MWO build and I would like to probably follow something pretty close to that.  With that change, and some of the updates that follow the MWO look, I really think that I just need to take the time and effort to do the missile covers along the style of the TRO look.

Another thing I need to consider is how I want to do the cockpit.  I do *not* like the look of where the cockpit is located on the MWO build.  I think for that I'd like to build the cockpit into the forward slope of the center torso or do a semi-bubble cockpit like the MadDog's. Either one should give an opportunity to build out a nicely detailed cockpit.

Anyway, that's where the development for the ARC-2W is at this point.